Boxing
Raymond Ford Feeling At Home in 2025
No one had a wilder up and down year in boxing in 2024 than Raymond Ford of Camden, New Jersey.
Ford will kick off 2025 on Saturday, April 12 in Atlantic City as the co-main event in support of the unification fight between Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis. The Matchroom Boxing card airs on DAZN starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
It’s essentially a hometown fight for Ford, and he likes it that way. Speaking with NY Fights, Ford said, “I’d rather be home. To be honest, I feel comfortable. It’s no pressure for me or anything like that. It’s just like I got my people with me.”
Ford (16-1-1, 8 KOs) faces Thomas Mattice of Cleveland (22-4-1, 17 KOs), who battled Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz to a narrow majority decision loss in 2021. Ford had trouble lining up an opponent until Mattice stepped up.
“We expect another great fight, another great performance,” promised Ford. “Thomas Mattice is going to come with it. He’s going to be durable. He’s got experience. And I’m looking forward to this fight. It’s an interesting fight.”
See our interview with Raymond Ford here.
From Title Loss to Fight Of The Year Honors For Ford
Raymond Ford suffered a narrow loss to Nick Ball for his WBA World Featherweight title, forcing a move to super featherweight. Photo: Mark Robinson, Matchroom Boxing
It will be Ford’s second fight at super featherweight. Fighting to remain at featherweight caused a drained Ford to fall to Nick Ball, losing his title. Ford says he feels more himself at 130 pounds.
“I felt more energized. I’m happy to see what else I could do,” said Ford. The weight cut has always been difficult. I’ve been having problems making 126, I just never let the world know. So now that you know I don’t have to cut the extra four pounds, it just feels great.”
In the second of Ford’s three fights in 2024, he lost a split decision by the narrowest margin to Nick “Wrecking” Ball of Great Britain – a fight many observers believe he won. But Ford doesn’t dwell on it, preferring to move forward.
“I didn’t really like learn much of anything from that fight, because I understood I was limited” due to the weight cut, said Ford, versus any specific mistakes he made during the fight or failing to give a full effort. “It was just (me) naturally growing and getting bigger.”
If you say Raymond Ford’s name to most boxing fans, they remember Ford’s stunning comeback in the 12th round of his fight against Otobek Kholmatov, winning the WBA World Featherweight title.
In a stunning turnaround, Raymond Ford stopped Otabek Kholmatov with just seven seconds left in their 2024 Fight of the Year. Photo: Mark Robinson, Matchroom Boxing
RING Magazine named it their Fight Of The Year for 2024. NY Fights also selected the 12th round as our Round Of The Year.
Ford was behind on two scorecards and would have lost a unanimous decision when he rocked Kholmatov with power punches. He sent him to the canvas and followed up to force a TKO win with just seven seconds left in the fight. At the time, Ford said he didn’t even hear the announcer say, “And the new!”
Unlike the Ball fight, Ford says there was a lesson for him from the Kholmatov fight.
“I learned never, like to never, ever stop fighting or give up until the last bell, because you never know what can happen,” said Ford. “Even with my Nick Ball fight when things wasn’t going great for me early on, I still stayed calm and composed, and weathered the storm and started to come back on the back end of the fight and made the fight much closer.”
Ford says the key is his ability to slow things down during a fight, which he says comes with being a great fighter.
“You just got to pretty much slow everything down in your brain. I took my deep breaths in my corner to gain my energy, my second wind, before I went back out there. In my brain, I just slowed things down and tried to look for the perfect shot, the right shot. And that’s what happened,” explains Ford – as if it’s simple.
Raymond Ford falls to the canvas after his victory over Otabek Kholmatov in March 2024, which was named Fight of the Year. Photo: Mark Robinson, Matchroom Boxing
Ford says the ability is an innate characteristic, just as punchers are born, not made.
“I think it’s more of like a personality thing. I’m not sure if it’s something that you can really learn. I mean, you can understand it, but you still got to go through and do it on your own.
“You can understand these things and know this is how you’re supposed to react as a fighter or an athlete in general. If you got a, let’s say, a crybaby mindset, nine times out of 10, you’re just not gonna be able to find that within yourself.
“This sport is not for the weak at all. So, you can’t be a crybaby in this sport,” declared Ford.
Ray Ford’s Championship Plans in 2025
Raymond Ford joined Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Turki Alalshikh, and notable fighters, including Canelo Alvarez, at the Ring Magazine Awards in London. Photo: Mark Robinson, Matchroom Boxing
Ford said having the fight selected as the 2024 Fight Of The Year wasn’t a complete surprise after he received an invitation to Ring Magazine’s awards event in London.
“I felt like I wasn’t invited out there for no reason. I did have a fight of the year, truthfully. It wasn’t a surprise to me. It was happy, though, for sure,” said Ford.
Along with receiving the honor, Ford rubbed shoulders with many boxing greats past and present. The one he enjoyed most? Greeting Mexican great Canelo Alvarez.
Ford’s goals for the year include a focus on staying active and working his way toward a title fight. With a minor WBA title at stake in Saturday’s fight, he will line up behind full world champion Lamont Roach, Jr. Roach Jr. has business with Gervonta Davis in their rematch at lightweight.
Raymond Ford didn’t name his targets, but WBC Super Featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster holds the belt Ford wants most. Photo: Mikey Williams, Top Rank Boxing
Ford says he’d like to get any of the current world champions to fight him. That would be the cherry on top. Like that would be the icing on the cake, right there,” said Ford. While he didn’t speak any names, he says the belt he really wants is the WBC green belt. It’s currently in the hands of O’Shaquie Foster, someone Ford knows well.
Kholmatov has said previously he’d like a rematch, but Ford says it won’t happen unless there’s either a lot of money or a title on the line, “It can’t just be for nothing.” Should Nick Ball move up a division, Ford said he might entertain a rematch, but the question is really up to Ball.
Ford says what’s truly important is to understand who you are, and he believes the only thing that beat him in the past was time.
Now, Ford promises to deliver solid entertainment for both his hometown New Jersey fans and those watching. “Get your popcorn, get everything, and see (that) you’re sitting down and watching from round one to whenever,” advised Ford.
